Environmentalists hail Earth Hour as a big success

With millions of people in over 2,800 cities across the world turning off lights for one hour in a symbolic gesture to highlight concerns over climate change, environmentalists say the global initiative was a huge success.

Lights went off across the world yesterday as millions of homes and businesses went dark for one hour at 8:30 pm. Local time for the third annual Earth Hour -- a day-long energy- saving marathon spanning 83 countries and 24 time zones.

India participated enthusiastically in Earth Hour, with official activities taking place in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram, Dehradun, Shimla, Chandigarh and Hyderabad as well as numerous smaller communities, according to Earth Hour's Web site.

Mumbai's best known landmarks, the Reserve Bank and Air India buildings and the Indian Tourism Development Corporation's flagship Ashok Hotel, went dark along with hundreds of other buildings across the city. Indian IT giants such as WIPRO and Infosys also joined in, it said.

In Washington, the lights went out at the Capitol dome at 8:30 p.M. The same time the Empire State Building, Central Park and the George Washington Bridge in New York went dark.

The Philippines topped this year's participation for Asia, with more than 650 communities taking part in the event, Earth Hour's Web site said.

In London, the light illuminating the face of the landmark Big Ben clock tower was switched off.